# 7053
Recently Adobe announced that Photoshop would be included in their Creative Cloud service for a monthly charge as opposed to selling it outright and upgrades were no longer available to purchase for owners of existing versions of Photoshop. Though I could see the attraction this holds for professionals who rely on the software, I was not thrilled. Now, a few months after Adobe’s announcement, I’m not at all concerned about the decision. I still have CS5 and Bridge, which are excellent choices for editing and productivity. Lightroom is a very creativ toold for editing and has been my main editor for almost two years, capable of performing 90% of the edits. A version of the shot above, a fountain at Sonnenberg Gardens, was posted earlier. Originally, the water was a yellow/brown mess and was very unattractive. In lightroom, I use the adjustment brush to add some blue to match the sky. It was easy and didn’t require much time or special technique. My guess is that future versions of Lightroom will have features that Photoshop has now, like layers, blend modes and layer styles and all non-destructive. I also think a program like Elements would make a nice companion in the meantime. I’ve used Elements (v5) for years before I started Photoshop and found it very easy and comprehensive. Currently they are up to version 11 so they probably have even more functionality that my old version 5 and it’s only $63. The shot below was made in Elements 5 long before I started with Lightroom or PS.
EMO/tut
2clicksaway 
I’m still irritated by Adobe’s decision.
Optional Cloud? Fine. Cloud as the only option? Not so much.
I wonder if (a few years down the road) the ‘buy it outright’ option will reappear ‘for a limited time only’… at twice the price. For some reason I can see that happening.
I guess I’m too old fashioned – (even if I could afford that service) I’d still prefer to own my software rather than lease it. It’s a shame, because I love Photoshop and use it and/or Illustrator almost every day.
Sorry for the rant, but this kinda touches a nerve for me. 😦
We are of like minds in this regard. I don’t like the idea of renting software, especially in my personal situation. When my CS5 starts to look a little long in the tooth I’ll take my business elsewhere. No doubt other companies will want to pick up the Adobe customers who feel the same way and offer some very nice packages at reasonable prices.
There is so much that Photoshop Elements can do that it is a viable alternative to the CS Cloud. I’ve also been learning to use Corel’s products. They too are quite powerful, and a few functions I’ve found work better than they do in the Adobe product (like HDR.)
I’ve started to seriously look at Corel products myself. I’m not ready to make a jump yet but I think I will have to eventually.
Beautiful result and totally natural appearing. I never would have guessed that you changed the color of the water. Sign of success!
Thanks, Howard. I had some success doing this sort of thing in Photoshop but I want to be less reliant on PS CS5 and use the non-destructive tools in Lightroom. I think the adjustment brush will be one tool that will see a lot of changes in future versions.
That is a very good treatment on the water, Ken. Like Howard, I would not have even guessed that you changed it. As one who still has CS4, with no plans to upgrade, the whole cloud rental thing doesn’t really bother me. I think that as seldom as I use PS, it would be an advantage to me to be able to rent it, when in dire straits, spend a little money, then not worry about it. No need to fork over $600, or so, for the whole thing. However, that said, it is nice to know that you can use your software anytime that you’d like without having to donate more $$$ to the boys at Adobe.
A very restful image, Ken. I’m another dissatisfied CS5 user. Photoshop is expensive, but I’d rather spend the money and have it on my desktop than rely on it being in a ‘Cloud’.
Thanks, Andy. I think professional photographers who rely on Photoshop for editing are the groupe that Adobe is catering to now. It was an expensive program but they offered upgrades for a reasonable price after the initial purchase.
I wanted to buy CS6 before they went to the cloud, but missed the boat (and the upgrade was too expensive for me to justify). I have CS5, and I agree it does fine for my level of work.
I also agree Lightroom does most of what I need, and I can only see it get better (and an incredible value to boot).
That said, I am trying the cloud option because I worked out my update scheme (every other release or so), actually comes very close. The other reason is that it gives me the opportunity to play with programs I might not have otherwise tried. Make no mistake, I am not happy with “renting”, but then I was not happy with the way they bundled their individual programs either.
Time will tell, but I’m hoping this to be a more cost-effective solution in the long run. I also wonder if the price will come down after a few years. The alternative will be they go even higher, and then I too will part company with the product (hopefully not Lightroom).
I doubt that costs will ever go down. The only program in the Adobe Suite that I use is PS and CS5 is still quite an advanced program, supports all my plugins and includes Bridge. I find Bridge to be one of the best organizational multipurpose (and underrated) tools around. It’s going to take a lot more than a few tweaks for me to sign up.
The thing that piqued my interest was the access to the other programs. Premiere is the one I am playing with now, but I also want to get into animation and other stuff that before was not cost-effective for me to try.
At some point, I will likely stop the subscription unless it has more usefulness than just exploring.
That’s a good point. Check out this link of an announcement Adobe made at Photoshop World today:
http://blogs.adobe.com/creativelayer/introducing-the-photoshop-photography-program/?scid=social11524994
Well, crap! . . . that is very attractive. Hmmm . . . I still want to try out all the other stuff, but don’t want to miss this as it’s likely what I will use 90.3476% of the time.
. . . life, why you be so difficult?
Hi Ken. I was inching towards getting photoshop, but the cloud thing puts me off completely. At the moment I only use LR. A few weeks ago I got a copy of Elements bundled with hardware, but have not tried it yet but am glad to hear your reassurances that it does most of what you need outside of LR.
I was a Corel user for a long time, but more on the drawing side and very little on the photo side. I guess I could go back to them. I wonder what people are going to do that don’t have access to a high speed connection – I imagine they will have to learn new software if they need to upgrade photoshop.
We received a version of Elements bundled with the software of a scanner we purchased at the Museum and it was not the same version that was sold in stores. It had most of the editing features but it lacked support for RAW files. It sort of makes sense since the scanner is incapable of producing RAW files but still, it may have some other differences I hadn’t noticed. Since you already have it, it doesn’t cost anything to give it a try, though.
That is interesting. I will need to explore that. I have not found a way, yet, to launch editing of an image in Elements directly from LR. I suspect it can be done, with an add-on of some kind.
The link you provided to another comment today suggests to me that it is likely LR could end up on the cloud too.
LR is already in the Cloud, but the plan, at least as far as the current thinking goes, is that it will remain available for purchase as a stand-alone.
That’s my understanding, too. That’s today, who knows what tomorrow will bring. Adobe is full of surprises.